RUFC – Patterson ‘I need the challenge’

Rotherham United`s new Assistant Manager, Darren Patterson says that although it was a tough decision he had to make to leave Bristol Rovers, where he was Youth Coach, the Millers made him an offer he couldn`t really refuse.

Speaking to the Bristol Evening Post, the forty-one year old said, ‘It’s certainly been the hardest football decision I’ve had to make in my life and one I`ve been deliberating over for two or three weeks.

‘But I`ve made the decision to move on. It`s an itch I had to scratch. I need the challenge, the buzz and the pressure that comes with senior football. That feeling when the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I think I’ve got more to offer and this was too good an opportunity and challenge for me to turn down.`

Speaking about Bristol Rovers he said, ‘It`s been a great two years and I can’t thank everyone at this football club enough. It’s been an honour and a privilege to work here. The chairman and all of the board have been brilliant. They said they didn’t want me to leave, but they didn’t put any obstacles in my way, and they could have, and I want to thank them for that.`

Darren was also head hunted by a League One club but he opted to join the Millers and work along side his former colleague at Oxford, Andy Scott and said, ‘Rotherham are a club that want to go somewhere with a new stadium on the way and training ground. They want to have a go and I want to be part of that.`